Love Runs Deep

by Gail Chianese

A flash of heat passed over Keith’s face. “I don’t even know the guy.”

  “He knows you.” Kyle focused on peeling the label from his bottle while watching his brother from the corner of his eye. “About a month ago, he came to the house looking for both of you.”

  Keith shrugged. “Small town. Not a lot twins.”

  He’d drop the subject for now. The kid didn’t trust him, not that Kyle blamed him, as he didn’t really trust Keith either. He had no idea what either of his brothers had been up to for years.

  “The complex has a pool and a workout room. We’re on the bus line and there’s several beaches nearby. I’ll arrange for some time off, take you up the local community college so you can check it out—”

  “Whoa.” Keith sat the cat down and stood up, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m not going back to school.”

  “What are you going to do?” He kept his tone light, steady all the while thinking his brother was a class-A idiot.

  “I’ll get a job.”

  “Doing what? Do you have any experience?”

  “Some.”

  “Hamburger Hill is a five-minute walk. I’m sure you’ll find something there.”

  Why couldn’t either of the dipshit twins do anything the easy way? Tell them to go left, and they’d go right, insisting it was the best route. Tell them to learn from your mistakes and they repeat them. Everything had to be done the hard way. Couldn’t they accept someone might know what’s best for them?

  Was he ever that pigheaded?

  Probably.

  “Whatever. I’ll be out of your life soon.” Keith pulled the iPod out of his pocket and stuck one of the buds in his ear.

  Kyle reached out to grasp his shoulder but Keith shifted away. “I don’t want you out of my life. You’re family. You’re welcome here for as long as you want and need.”

  He didn’t know what he was expecting or what he’d really wanted from their conversation. Yeah, he knew the kid was mad and hurt, but deep down, maybe he’d hoped that the bond they’d had as kids would still be there. From the time the twins could crawl they’d followed him everywhere and they hadn’t stopped until he’d left home. They’d even sneaked into his room and slept with him after a nightmare woke one of them or during a storm. Both had been terrified by the clash of thunder.

  “I’ve got to work tomorrow, but after work I’ll give you the grand tour. Show you the highlights of the area. Help you get your bearings.”

  Keith grabbed his backpack, hugging it to his chest like a lifeline. “Don’t bother. I can find my own way.”

  Before he could say anything else a knock on the door interrupted them.

  * * *

  Nic took one look at the deep lines around Kyle’s eyes and mouth and wondered if she shouldn’t have come over or had at least called first.

  “Hi, I figured with the trip to the airport and stuff, you wouldn’t have a chance to think about dinner.” She held up the boxes and handed them off to Kyle. “Everyone likes pizza, right?”

  “Yeah. Of course. Thanks.” He stepped aside for her to come in while he put the pies on the table. Standing at the hall entrance was a younger, lankier version of Kyle. Same scraggly chestnut brown hair and cloudy gray eyes. “Hi, you must be Keith.”

  The guy stared at her for a couple of minutes without responding and then pulled out his earbuds. He turned his attention to Kyle. “She your girl?”

  Kyle stood next to her. A huff of frustration blew across her cheek. “I swear my mom taught him manners.” He made the introductions and Keith nodded in her direction.

  “She’s hot.” He stuck the earbud back in and headed down the hall. “Thanks for the pizza.”

  Nic turned to Kyle and smiled. “So I’m guessing he’s the social butterfly in the family?”

  Kyle wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a long, satisfactory kiss.

  “More like a pain in the butt and he’s part of a matched set. I can’t believe he was rude to you. Me, yeah, I get that.”

  She ran her fingers through his hair, loving the feel and so glad he resisted letting the barber shop cut it in a high and tight like so many other sailors these days. “Don’t worry about it. He’s just doing what all younger siblings do and pressing your buttons. Trust me on this. Not that I’d ever torment my brothers.” She rolled her eyes, gave him a quick nip on his bottom lip and stepped back.

  “He’s been pressing every button I have since he got off the plane.”

  “Give him time. He’ll settle in. Look, I should go. Give you two time to catch up and settle in together. I just wanted to see you.”

  He pulled her back to him, nuzzling her neck as she tried to squirm out of his reach, laughing. “Stay. Grumpzilla won’t be out of his room for hours. Eat pizza with me, tell me about your day, and then I can take you to bed and forget about mine.”

  “Food and sex. I’m starting to see a pattern here.” She teased, tracing the ripples of his abs through his T-shirt.

  “Not true. That first night there was no food involved at all.” Kyle reached down and lifted her by her butt and plopped her down on the table next to the pizza boxes. “But I’m all for food and sex. We could even have food with sex. Strawberry jam isn’t just for toast.”

  Nic choked on her laugh, pushing Kyle back, a quick look confirmed they were still alone. “Go get some plates.”

  By the time he returned from the kitchen with plates, napkins and two beers, Nic had gotten off the table and lifted the lid on both pizza boxes.

  Kyle handed her a plate and took a deep breath. “It’s like a gift from the gods.”

  “Do you want cheese or loaded?”

  He leaned over to inspect the pizzas. “Are those mushrooms?” His voice was pure disgust and disbelief.

  “Yes, and if you don’t like them you can pick them off and put them on mine. It’s also got sausage, pepperoni and black olives.”

  With a resigned sigh he let her give him a slice of each, and carried their beers to the couch where he waited for her to join him. They talked about non-important things as they ate. Nic stole the mushrooms from Kyle’s pizza and a few pieces of sausage too. She filled him in on her non-exciting day of writing reports and reviewing inventory, sitting in on a couple of meetings—the usual. In turn he told her about the new command and how he was looking forward to the change.

  “Have you heard anything new on the investigation? Are they ready to move forward with the charges yet?” They’d finished eating and Kyle wiped away a smear of pizza sauce from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

  “Last I heard the prosecution is building their case. Whatever that means. All of the men have been temporarily reassigned to the group, although they did offer to transfer me first. Gave me my pick of assignments. Have to admit, Naples was tempting, as was embassy duty in Australia.” She shifted down so that she could lay her head back on the couch cushion and rest her feet on the edge of the trunk that served as a coffee table.

  “Why would you turn either down?” Kyle ran his fingers up and down her arm, giving her goose bumps. “Both are prime billets.”

  It was a great question. When she was a teen, Naples had been Nic’s home for three years. The city was magnificent, filled with a rich history, and the people—oh, how she loved the Italians! So warm and welcoming and then there was the food. Nothing beat homemade pasta that had been made that day with sauce that had simmered for hours, crafted by loving hands. If it weren’t for all the walking one did in Naples, you’d gain a thousand pounds from the gelato alone. So why not return to the land she loved?

  Or move on to the land down under where embassy duty would shoo her in for an early promotion?

  Because she’d never been a quitter.

  “I don’t know if you can understand or not. Sometimes, I question my own logic on this subject. The day Stone shot that film he made me a victim. I know he didn’t physically hurt me, but it doesn’t change
the fact that I was labeled that day. People look at me with pity in their eyes. I did nothing wrong, yet everyone expects me to run and hide. Probably because seeing me makes them uncomfortable and if I left they could forget the ugly reality of what happened.”

  “You don’t make me uncomfortable.”

  “No, but you don’t look at me that way either.”

  Kyle looked at her like a man looked at a woman. He looked at her like a friend looks at a friend. He looked at her like a person.

  “Everyone expects me to leave. It’s been strongly suggested by some that I should take a reassignment. Get a fresh start.” She tilted her head up to get a better look at Kyle, to see if he really got what she was saying or not. “If I do, he wins. I stay the victim and no matter what the court does to him, he retains the power over my life he took that day. Does that make any sense?”

  “Strangely enough, it does. He may not have physically touched you, but what he did was sexual harassment, Nic, at the very least. Guys like Stone are bullies of the worst kind. They have no balls to face their opponents. They hide in the shadows and attack in the dark, or from the safety of the Internet and in cases like this, use technology to terrorize.”

  She sat up and turned to him. “Exactly. Everyone expects me to be all shook up, and I am, but I’m not going to let anyone else dictate what I do with my life or how I live it.” No matter how deep the urge to run was. “Today I talked with a counselor.”

  Kyle slid his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled in, resting her cheek against his chest.

  “How’d that go?” His voice was quiet and soothing.

  “Pretty good, actually. She really understood what I’ve been going through, not that she’s been an unwilling porn star before. But the important thing is she understood the fear and anxiety I’ve developed when using public bathrooms. It was nice to just know I wasn’t alone or being a drama queen. That what I was feeling was real and valid.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I didn’t know,” he whispered against her.

  “No one did.” She reached out and laced her fingers with his. “I didn’t tell anyone, not even my family. I was ashamed. Afraid that what I was experiencing made me weak and not worthy of my position or it meant I didn’t belong in the sub force. I mean, there are other women out there in the military who have experienced far worse, and they haven’t tucked tail and ran.”

  “Nic.” His voice brought her head up to meet his eyes. “You can’t compare your ordeal and how you are dealing with it to anyone else’s. Everyone handles trauma differently. There’s no one right way.”

  She kissed him. Just a simple meeting of the lips to say thank you because what he’d said was one of the kindest things anyone could have said It also was so him, standing by her just like he said he’d do.

  “I know that and the counselor helped me understand that I was putting too much pressure on myself, not giving myself anytime to process what happened. It’ll take some time. I’m not going to walk into the base gym tomorrow and jump in the shower without feeling the heebie-jeebies. But in time I will take my life back. I won’t let myself down, or my sisters-in-arms, or you.”

  “I’m pretty sure you could never let me down.”

  “Oh yeah? What if I said I had a headache tonight?”

  Bailing and going home would be the right thing and the smart option. His brother was in the other room; they’d barely walked in the door from the airport when she’d showed up. And based on the tension in the place, they needed time to talk. But being alone in her room meant more time to think and for some reason her brain thought that instead of taking advantage of those moments to, oh say sleep or relax, it chose to replay the past couple of weeks over and over again.

  Kyle traced his fingers from the top of her arm down to her side, skimming the side of her breast. “I have a surefire cure for headaches. Of course, it means you have to get naked first.”

  She laughed. “Oh really? Is this doctor approved?”

  “Don’t believe me? You can always ask Doc Corbett. He’ll back me or you could test it out yourself.” He blew warm breath down the side of her throat, a delicious sensation that was a direct contrast to the cool air of the apartment.

  “What if this miracle cure doesn’t work?” Her question came out low and little raspy, probably because the image of her sprawled out naked on Kyle’s bed as he ministered to her body made it hard to swallow and breathe, much less talk.

  “Then I’ll give you two aspirins and haul my horny ass into a cold shower.”

  “Well,” she shifted and swung her leg over him to straddle his lap. “Maybe we should give it a try and be thankful it’s only a slight headache.”

  In one swift motion he scooped her up as he carried her off to the bedroom with his lips locked on to hers.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hurry up and wait. He should get the motto tattooed on his backside. Kyle glanced at his wristwatch and let out a bored sigh. The sailor across from him in the reception area of Navy Legal gave one of those yep-tell-me-about-it laughs and nodded. They’d both been sitting for the last half hour, whereas the one guy had been glued to his smartphone, Kyle had flipped through the Navy Times. Why make an appointment if you were going to ignore it? he wondered. Five more minutes, that’s all he was waiting and if the damn defense attorney hadn’t showed by then, Kyle was out of there. He had better things to do than to talk to Stone’s lawyer.

  Not bothering to check the time, Kyle stood and turned to the front desk with the baby Legalman who didn’t look old enough to have been cut from his mom’s apron strings.

  “Tell Lieutenant Cruz if he still wants to talk to me, he can come to NSSF. I’ve got work to do—” Kyle started to say.

  “Excuse me, Lieutenant Hutchinson?” The door to the right of him opened and a brunette of medium height addressed him. At his nod, she stepped back, expecting him to follow. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. The admiral’s staff had me on the phone with an urgent matter.”

  Smart. She knew he couldn’t argue with that excuse.

  She led him to a cramped office that overlooked the parking lot, offered him coffee and apologized again for the wait and the mess before taking her seat behind the standard wooden office desk.

  “Thank you for making time to talk with me. I’m Lieutenant Lupe Cruz,” she said, “I’ve been appointed as Petty Officer Stone’s defense attorney. This shouldn’t take long. I just need to go over your statement again and have a few additional questions for you.”

  What was the point? She had everything he knew, had seen, right there on the paper in front of her. There was nothing new he could tell her, no forgotten memory that would absolve her asskite of a client from the crime he’d committed.

  Once again, Kyle ran though the events of the day, from the minute he’d gotten up from the table in the wardroom, his conversation with Brooks and Wu, to the moment Mace and Bryant pulled him off of Stone. Same thing he told the XO, CO, the group investigators and the prosecuting attorney.

  She looked up at him, eyes wide, pen poised over the tablet she’d been making notes on at the end. “You freely admit that you got physical with Stone?”

  “Did you miss the part where your client videotaped a female officer in the shower and tried to brush it off as no big deal, just a way to make some scratch?” He was shocked at how calm he sounded. Inside he wanted to rail and yell and ask how she could defend scum like Stone.

  “I’m just surprised you’d admit it, knowing you could get in trouble. Most people try to hide their mistakes.” She scribbled something on her pad before looking back up.

  “I own up when I screw up. Besides, Commander Holloway has already dealt with the situation.” Basically a slap on the wrist, but she didn’t need to know.

  “Before this day, had Stone ever mentioned any money problems to you?”

  “No.”

  “Did he mention problems with his girlfriend, that
she thought she might be pregnant and wanted to get married?”

  “No.” Truthfully, he was surprised any woman would sleep with Stone.

  “What’s your relationship like with the rest of the men in your department, Lieutenant Hutchinson?” Once again, she paused in her note taking to glance up at him.

  He gave her a slight smile. “Good. Friendly, respectful, but as you know there are boundaries. The guys talk around me. No one zips their lips the minute I walk in the door. Petty Officer Brooks is engaged to his high school sweetheart. It’ll be a Christmas wedding. Her name is Ericka. Petty Officer Wu has two kids. Jayden is three and Emma is two and is already destined to be a heartbreaker. Oh, and his wife Jessica makes the best dim sum around. Do you want to hear about the rest?”

  “No, I’m getting the picture.” She set her pen down, brought her hand up to her face and rubbed at her temple with her index finger. “What’s your boat’s policy on smartphones?”

  Was she kidding? “Same as everyone else’s. You can take them on board, but you can’t use the recording feature anywhere on the boat.”

  She held up a hand while she jotted down another note. What was she doing, writing a frigging book?

  “Almost done, I promise. What is your relationship with Lieutenant Riley?”

  This time she made sure to watch his every move.

  Kyle had made sure not to flinch. But inside his heart slammed against his chest. The room turned a hazy red and the grip on his cover intensified until the pain in his fingers cut through the anger boiling his blood.

  “We’re shipmates.”

  “Is that all?” She sounded dubious.

  “I was her sponsor when she was first reported onboard. Guess you could call us friends at this point. Same as with the rest of my fellow officers on the California.”

  “Uh-huh.” More scribbling on the pad. “Interesting. Well, thank you, Lieutenant Hutchinson for coming in.” She stood and extended her hand.

  Kyle gave it a polite shake and reached for the door.

  “Uh, how is Lieutenant Riley doing?” Cruz asked.